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Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Write like you mean it where we discuss all things writing this time we're going to begin a new sequence, topic area. And that is narration, narration, the narrative. What do we do with it? How do we do it? How do we do what we do with it and so on. I'm so happy that that sentence just came out flawlessly, impromptu extend pourrais loving the energy, feeling it feeling the energy. Okay, so narration children's say, tell me a story over and over again, right? They're bored or restless. And they know a good story can entertain and interest them. Adults say the same thing when they read more than a few pages of a novel. Just like you do, they love to hear the tales that nourish their imagination. But what makes one book different from another? What makes a story unique? Let's think about it from this angle. First. The underlying plot is the same really, for most novels, you know, there's romance, thrillers, Detective mysteries, among others. These are genres. And the whole genre system, I think is sort of like a road network. You know, there's different kinds of roads, there's county roads and highways and interstates and driveways. There's parking lots, even, you know, there's roundabouts, there's primitive roads, unpaved roads, really kind of however you want to think about it, this metaphor might go there for you and do some pretty good work. That's not the point here, though, the thing to see is, the plot isn't really driving the narration, okay, maybe it has an influence, just as whatever genre you choose to work in or travel along, might lead you to see or be more likely to see certain kinds of things and others go at various speeds. But really, it's the narrative that drives the plot. The narrative is what brings the plot alive. The plot in and of itself is kind of static, I mean, sure, you can make it turn this way and that, but really, you're just turning along it through the vehicle of narration, right. And this is what I'm talking about when I say the underlying plot is the same for most novels. However, or but narration is the telling of a story. Narration is the telling of a story. And you might be thinking now like, okay, yeah, dude, we know this. Thank you so much for your time. Captain Obvious think about this, though. Narration is the telling of a story. Think about that in relation to how we've just discussed plot how we thought about it, metaphorically, for me, and I hope this is true for you. It comes alive in a different kind of way, I'm able to see what it's doing in a new way. From a fresh perspective, I You could even say, from a novel point of view. Indeed, that was a pun intended. So narration the telling of a story. It's something people have learned for 1000s of years. Or another example, we've got parables told to the New Testament to illustrate certain truths are the various mythologies of the deep past or even the contemporary moment, whose stages are whole cultures, civilizations. What are these big mirrors and windows which reflect and project the giant cast of giant characters? And these have what in common? They're driven by narration. And of course, this is a grandiose way to think about narration. And you're right, but that's exactly the point. I'm telling it with a grandiosity, the way I'm narrating this idea can be characterized by the the notion of grandiosity, you know, the word means how it's defined. Exactly. I just looked it up. And there are so many peas in this definition and the words that it's gonna sound like a plosive train, but here we go, impressive and imposing an appearance or style, especially pretentiously. So, yeah, really hoping that my inexpensive pop filter did a decent job there. For your for your sake. Narrative can mobilize rhetorical effectiveness, certain rhetorical effects to reach an end to come to a destination to arrive with up and declaration in one piece. A piece that is perhaps made more memorable that maybe even becomes the reason we want to remember it or, or do it all. Because of what we said and the things we said and how we said them and where we said them, and the images and the sounds.
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All expressions On the way there. So think about Aesop's Fables, right? The Tortoise and the Hare that kind of thing. Aesop's Fables teach a lesson using animals as characters. And this offers a way for people to learn without feeling like they're being lectured to. Some novels like war and peace are narrated in a very dense and detailed way. Other novels like The Catcher in the Rye use a more casual colloquial narration. But what does this all to say? Well, it's this the shared experience of the human race suggests that a well told story has few rivals in lasting fascination and appeal. The shared experience of the human race would suggest that a well told story has few rivals and lasting fascination and appeal. As we grow older, we still demand stories. But now we want them to contain something different. We want them to be about what we need them to be about. A good storyteller can always tell a story so it will capture the hearts and minds of the listeners. Many modern writers are more interested in conveying the feeling of life than conveying ideas. A reader of those stories says yes, that's what being in a family argument is really like. Indeed, using narration to tell a story is one of the methods a writer can use to support the thesis. Uh huh. Yes, indeed a thesis. That's where I was heading the whole time. If your thesis is strong enough, it will be supported by the fact that you told an interesting story. However, if your thesis is not strong enough to support what you were saying, in your story, you as the writer should find some other method to support it, or at least work on the method that you've chosen increase your skill with it through practice. For example, telling a story to illustrate a scientific idea is a valid approach. But it's not the only way. Rather than telling stories that support specific ideas or that seek to validate certain claims. Many writers today are more interested in telling stories that capture what life is all about. The response of the reader to these stories as yes, this captures what life feels like. This approach produces some great short stories and novels, but isn't always suitably applicable to the thesis driven essay. But don't think of this as a drawback. The strength of your argument or analysis is still what will make or break your essay. Even if it's framed in the form of a story. Come to think of it. The chances are that your narration theme isn't going to be fiction at all. And nothing is wrong with trying your hand to fiction. But most narration themes proceed in far different ways. You might be telling a story about what what's really happened to you or to people, you know, these are the kinds of things the kinds of narrative packages that you'll send out for delivery through your essay. For the most part, even though a lot of things we say about narration and narrative will be generalizable to fictional scenarios, we'll mostly be considering narration as, as a kind of tool or a function that you can implement within an essay to enhance it and help tell its story. So like any good storyteller, you'll emphasize some elements and de emphasize or ignore others, depending on the point of the story, of course. So how do you begin, you may begin by situating your story in time and space, you may want to introduce the main characters and explain something about them before getting into the action. You might want to start with a problem or conflict and then show how the characters deal with it, or the narrator. In any case, your focus should be on engaging the reader and making your story interesting.
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If you can do that, then your thesis will be much more likely to succeed. Let me give you an example. Here's a situation, okay. Imagine a situation in which some friends are supporting their claim that running is glorious by telling you about their experience finishing race. And then after they've told you this, you say to them, I think running is horrible. I'd like to tell you about my experience, and then you tell your story. That's the essence of the narration, paper and examples And a story to back it up, or an idea and an illustration of it whichever way you want to think about it. But the most important thing is that your story be interesting and engaging. That's the key to making your thesis more persuasive. If you can't find a good story for your thesis, then perhaps, but just perhaps your thesis isn't as strong as it needs to be. You might have a thesis that's formal and correct. A thesis that clarifies creates a shift in consciousness, or thesis that is original. But without a good story. Without a good story, it will be too difficult for many people to hear and accept. So if you need to strengthen your original idea and make your thesis more compelling, tell one or two great stories around it, tell them well, and you'll see that your thesis has become much more powerful. The generic advice to just go your own way, in quotes, just go your own way really can be helpful sometimes, but will undoubtedly change from one story to another. The way you go will undoubtedly change from one story to another. And on that note, this episode is over it's going to change to another so we'll see you there and the next episode.